Ask HN: Slashdot rejected my story, what next? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Slashdot rejected my story, what next?

3 pointsjpirkola12 comments

What other places I could submit the story? It is about the future of 3D web and how big companies have started to support open source projects around it.

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Try print computer magazines - especially ones with an online version too. They usually take freelance/unsolicited content and pay fairly well for it if it is good.

Some tips (I write on/off for such mags):

* Give them a deadline to reply by - otherwise they could take ages to get back to you. Set it for 2 weeks. After 7 days send a follow up email.

* Ensure you tell them you want "reprint content permission" which will let you publish it on your blog or elsewhere after they publish it (usually the grace period is a month afterwards).

* 5p per word is minimum price for articles under 5000 words - if they offer you less haggle :) (the most I get under 5000 is 7p a word, above 5000 words it will be done on fixed rates depending on the mag & the content)

* They will try to bully you gently - stand up strong. It will get you further :)

* Be bold in your initial email (but dont gush, I learnt the hard way the "I love your mag" doesnt work with editors because they dont love it, it is their job :D). Include anything that qualifies you as an expert.

* Link to previous work that has gone down well (if there is any) and also link to obviosuly respected industry experts with similar views (so they know your not just an upstart :)).

Good luck!

Maybe you could turn your story into an iPhone app, publish it on Apple's App Store, and then submit a story about the app about your story to Slashdot.

then submit a blog post here about how well the app did and why.

Okay, thanks for your comments, I appreciate you took time to answer my question. I got really interested about http://Kuro5hin.org (thanks Thorax!) and may try that at some point, they seem to have editorial feedback system too. If I was planning to sell my article, I would have loved ErrantX comment, thanks! I decided to publish the article at my own blog, even it doesn't fit in 100% there. I will post the link here tomorrow for your comments, the title will be: "IT giants back up open source 3D Web".

If you want thoughtful advice, it would be good to post a link to your story here.

You're right I would, but it is not published anywhere yet. I will post a link here once I have submitted it and it gets published... but I need your advice first to submit it.

Exactly what do you mean by "published"?

If you mean "made public", just put it on your blog. (If you don't have one, make one-- there's a zillion free services.)

Or are you looking for a publisher to edit it and pay you for it? If so, you're pretty much out of luck-- the fact that you wrote it without a market in mind is a good indicator that it's not ready for that type of publication.

I could publish it first on my own blog. But isn't it possible to submit the story somewhere without first publishing it at own blog? At least that is possible at Slashdot. I don't need to get paid.

You can post it here as a self post, or on reddit as a self post. Or maybe you'd like something more like kuro5hin.org.

There is generally a market for any kind of writing :) if nothing else it will easily sell as stock content on one of the stock websites.

EDIT: ok so it's clear now the intent isnt commerical :) so that is a moot point I just made!

umm... post it on here?

Here's a few places you could try: * reddit * digg * Facebook * MySpace * del.icio.us * StumbleUpon * Buzz Up! * Mixx * Technorati * Google Bookmarks * Yahoo Bookmarks * Yahoo! My Web * Windows Live * Propeller * FriendFeed * newsvine * Xanga * LinkedIn * blinklist * Furl

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